I will be a featured expert resource at the Public Forum of the United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, (WCDRR) in Sendai, Japan, 14-18 March 2015. Held at the site of the 11 March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, the conference is expected to attract up to 8,000 representatives of the private sector, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, scientific institutions, organizations of the United Nations system, and intergovernmental organizations, with the aim of building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters.
The exclusive event is titled: “Implementing Resilience with Private-Sector Partnerships through Business Continuity.” The event will be held on Saturday, 14 March, 3:00-5:00 p.m. at the Sendai Civic Auditorium, Meeting Room 2. During the session, we will discuss what steps can be taken to protect communities around the world against the immediate threats of high-impact weather events and other types of disasters. The session will focus on maintaining the long-term health of the small- and medium-sized enterprises that are integral to the Japanese economy.
The Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 2004 prompted the formation of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), under the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. HFA has a stated goal to substantially reduce disaster losses by 2015 by building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters. In 2012, the UN General Assembly decided to convene the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction to review implementation of the HFA and to adopt a post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction. As we near the end of the HFA 10-year program, the WCDRR will assess how much progress has been made and where to focus our attention next. I believe that in order for the implementation of the post-2015 sustainable development agenda to be successful, the private sector must be engaged in the process from the earliest stages.
The Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction will be held from 14 to 18 March 2015 in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Several thousand participants are expected, including at related events linked to the World Conference under the umbrella of building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters. The expected outcome of the World Conference is a focused and action-oriented document and will have the following objectives:
- To complete assessment and review of the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action;
- To consider the experience gained through the regional and national strategies/institutions and plans for disaster risk reduction and their recommendations as well as relevant regional agreements within the implementation of the Hyogo Framework of Action;
- To adopt a post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction;
- To identify modalities of cooperation based on commitments to implement a post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction;
- To determine modalities to periodically review the implementation of a post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction.
The World Conference has been convened since 1994. In 2005, the 2nd World Conference on Disaster Reduction adopted the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Countries and Communities to Disasters (HFA) in Kobe, Japan.
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